Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegation. We had a very productive meeting on Monday with some of these people. We are introducing a Private Members' Bill to improve how the policing system works and with regard to holding it to account. We asked for a meeting with GSOC.

I wish to rehearse some of the points discussed at the meeting in order to put them on the public record. The special report states that things could be better and that the commission could do with a bit more co-operation which would allow the Garda ombudsman to be a more effective force and increase its capacity to hold the police force to account, which is its remit, in my opinion. I would argue that it is not getting the support it requires to hold the police force to account and which would be to the benefit of the State.

On the question of admissibility, we are of the opinion that the period of six months should be extended to one year with a right of appeal in respect of GSOC decisions. We also raised the issue of introducing an independent police board to separate the commission, the force and the Minister for Justice and Equality, in the style of the system in place in Northern Ireland. We do not recommend an exact copy of that system because there were particular issues at play there which our State would not encounter. An extension of the period of admissibility from six months to one year would be very helpful.

In addition to breach of discipline and possible criminal offence, a new code of conduct should be drawn up to include breaches of human rights and service level complaints which would form a third ground of admissibility. Specific incidents of non-compliance by An Garda Síochána could be reported to the new police body. The commission report states that new protocols are being considered. That is all well and good but a policy on paper is one thing while making it work is another. The commission's work is often delayed by the Garda Síochána disputing whether information is relevant to an investigation. It is difficult to credit how the Garda Síochána would see fit to decide on that matter, given that the Garda ombudsman is the body responsible for the investigation. An independent police board acting as a mediator would allow the Garda ombudsman to report matters on non-compliance. The issue of non-compliance is not easy to deal with.

I refer to how complaints are currently handled. Statistics from the Minister for Justice and Equality show that fewer than 1% of complaints by the public reach the Director of Public Prosecutions. Half of these complaints are probably deemed inadmissible in the first place. The public perception is that the Garda ombudsman struggles to hold the Garda Síochána to account and the public complainants are frustrated that their complaints are not resulting in a desired response in many cases. One third of complaints to the Garda ombudsman are referred on to the Garda Síochána. If the Garda Síochána decides there has been no breach and there is no case to answer, no explanation is provided to the complainant. This is very disappointing. There needs to be more engagement with the complainant. Another third of complaints are investigated by the Garda Síochána under supervision by the Garda ombudsman, while a further third of complaints are dealt with by the Garda ombudsman. In my view, all complaints should be under some control of the Garda ombudsman. If the State is serious about the Garda ombudsman being an effective body, extra resources must be provided to deal with the one third of complaints which are not supervised by the Garda ombudsman. That one third of complaints are deemed to be the most minor offences, but the public perception is that it is unsatisfactory to have these complaints dealt with by the Garda Síochána outside of the control of the Garda ombudsman. The chances of complainants receiving serious answers about their complaints are difficult at that stage. Last November the UN rapporteur recommended that GSOC be permitted to initiate its own review of policies and procedures without being requested to do so by the Minister. I ask for the commission's opinion in this regard.